


The Heart of a Scoundrel

by SerStolas



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars the Old Republic - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Reunions, kotfe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-09-17 02:39:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 17,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9300416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerStolas/pseuds/SerStolas
Summary: Smuggler Sae’corvys’safis Duskier had survived escaping the Empire and Chiss Ascendency, an Underworld War, and any number of other adventures in her days in working for the Republic.  But when she was captured by Arcann and placed in carbonite, the former life she knew fell into shambles.  Now working for the Alliance and trying to take down Arcann, Corvys has picked up what pieces of her past she can and just wants to continue living her life.This story will have some Non-Canon as some of the companions I am particularly fond of didn't actually come back in KOTFE and KOTET.  Picks up after Chapter 14 of KOTFE.- ReTitled 1/17/17.  Other members of the Duskier legacy are present in the background of the story and will have occasional appearances.





	1. Whiskey for Your Thoughts

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Bioware and EA own SWTOR. I'm just playing with their toys.  
> My smuggler is a Chiss (yay legacy unlock!) who escaped the Ascendancy and ended up in Republic space due to some disagreements with the Ascendancy and the Empire in general.

She knew Lana had an issue with the Mandalorans, but Outlander and Commander Sae’corvys’safis Duskier didn’t particularly care. From everything she’d studied about the Mandalorans, she knew they could be a violent, rowdy people, but they were not, as the young Torian Cadera had put it, animals or without purpose. 

All things considered, Sae’corvys’safis found she could respect the Mandalorans overall. Sure there was a lot of anomistity between the Republic and the Mandalorans, given their warrish history, but while Sae’corvys’safis had spent a number of years in Republic space and had once even been a commissioned Republic privateer, she had not been born on a Republic world, and to her they were just another government and organization.

Life for a Chiss outside of the Ascendency, particularly if you weren’t aligned with the Empire, could be difficult, as Sae’corvys’safis had found out so many years ago. In her adolescence she had managed to disagree with some of the more rigid points of Chiss society, and while she hadn’t actually broken any of their laws and hadn’t been exiled, getting away from the Ascendency and from the Empire had seemed like a very good idea at the time.

So she’d done what no one would have expected her to do, she’d become a freighter captain in Republic space. She’d done the exact opposite of what her family would have wanted her to…and that rebellion had turned out to be profitable, particularly the smuggling, so she’d made a living of it for a few years.

And then had come Ord Mantel, Skavak, and a number of other related problems. Destroying Skavak had been satisfying, and she’d managed to deal with the Butcher in a satisfactory way. Then there’d been the Voidwolf, the Hutts, and Revan, just to keep her life interesting.

Her life of mayhem with her husband, Corso Riggs, at her side, had come to a halt when they’d gone into Wild Space seeking to destroy the Emperor. The bastard Arcann had frozen her in carbonite for five years and the world had moved on without her.

Now she lived to see Arcann taken down. Her time was dedicated to finding allies and resources for the Alliance’s war against Arcann, which is how she’d managed to meet the young Mando Torian. She watched him from the corner of her eye as the meeting ended her advisors and allies went their separate ways. 

She had been somewhat concerned with the meeting between Aric Jorgan and Torian Cadera, given their being Cathar and Mando, respectively. But since Torian had returned with her two days ago, he and Aric had seemed to develop a healthy respect for each other.

It helped when everyone remembered they were all supposed to be on the same side.

With the meeting over she wandered off towards the cantina as she was apt to do. Cantinas were often good places to get information and jobs, in her experience, though tonight she just intended to try and relax before they undertook this mad mission Scorpio was directing them on.

That droid gave Sae’corvys’safis the creeps, and her obvious distain for HK-55 had bothered the smuggler…she didn’t entirely trust Scorpio.

“Hey Commander, I wondered where you’d got to!” Koth Vortenna hailed her as stepped into the cantina, waving her towards the table where he sat with Gault, Vette, Tora, and Ralo. 

Sae’corvys’safis raised her hand in acknowledgement and wandered over to the group’s table where they were evidently playing cards. She slid into the booth next to Koth and watched with minor curiosity. The former Zakuul military man turned smuggler put a casual arm around her shoulders as she settled in. 

“Want in Corvys?” Koth asked, using the Core version of the Chiss smuggler’s name.

“I’m good,” Corvys replied, letting her lean a bit into Koth’s shoulder while she watched the group play. She and Koth had been dancing around each other for months, but neither had actually taken any steps to establishing exactly what was between them. 

She’d been upfront with Koth from the beginning, telling him she’d been married to her First Mate before Arcann had captured and imprisoned her, now five and a half years before. Her attempts to find Corso had resulted in nothing, and she didn’t know if the man was dead or alive.

It occurred to her that she should probably be either mourning, or trying to hold out hope that Corso would be found, but neither Theron nor Lana’s search efforts had yielded anything. She’d even had Hylo Visz see what she could find, but the woman hadn’t been able to find any signs of Corso either.

Corvys wasn’t entirely sure where she stood emotionally…she and Koth had shared a bit of flirting and a kiss in a cantina back room, but neither of them had pursued anything beyond that, and she was fairly certain that Koth was in some ways still at least lusting after Lana. That was probably why he flirted with Corvys. Corvys was safe and would never expect any kind of permanent attachment from Koth, where was what Corvys suspected Koth felt for Lana ran far deeper than the man was willing to admit.

They laughed and flirted, they occasionally shared a kiss or an embrace, but they never got too serious. She let herself relax a bit more around Koth than she did around other allies, and he never asked her to follow him to bed.

She could still hear Corso’s jealous indignation occasionally in her mind, but she knew he wasn’t really there. She’d seen a lot of death in her life, and she’d learned to take her comfort where she could get it, and sadly her good-hearted husband wasn’t around to provide it.

The table had managed to go through two bottles of whiskey and a few beers before the game wound down, and she and Koth ended up alone at the table, both slumped against the back of the booth, talking quietly about unimportant subjects in slightly slurred voices. She knew they’d probably both head to bed soon, alone.

It didn’t stop her from wanting someone to warm her bed tonight, but when she saw Koth glancing towards Lana where she was discussing something with a Jedi member of their Alliance, she knew he shouldn’t be the one she asked.

She opened her mouth to tell Koth to just go and talk to Lana when the Sith woman wandered off. Corvys rubbed her forehead and decided against saying anything right now. Koth turned his gaze back towards her and gave her one of those void may care smiles of his. “Guess we should think about hanging it up for the night, eh?”

“Probably not a bad idea…we’re planning with Scorpio tomorrow to strike Arcann’s ships with the GEMENI droid, and that’s bound to take some time,” Corvys replied. She shook her head. “Never thought I’d be giving decisions and making orders in a war…I was just a freighter captain.”

“You were,” Koth replied. “Though I don’t know if you’re ‘just’ anything now.” There was that teasing note in his voice whenever he flirted with her. 

She laughed and leaned over, brushing her lips against his lightly for a moment before she pulled away and slid out of the booth. “Go get some sleep, Koth, and make sure you drink so water so you don’t wake up with a hangover again.”

He grinned. “I will. Night Commander.”

Commander, Captain…she liked it better when he called her Corvys, but it was just as well. They both knew that they were just leaning on each other for support and there wasn’t actually anything but friendship between them.

So Corvys drank a canteen of water and went to bed in her lonely quarters, staring up at the ceiling until she finally drifted off into an uneasy sleep.


	2. Verbal Daggers and Resolutions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smuggler Corvys deals with some of the aftermath of her final confrontation with Arcann in KOTFE Chapter 16, and resolves to correct mistakes that she's made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Bioware and EA own SWTOR. I'm just playing with their toys.

To say a number of her companions were not happy about Corvys letting Senya escape with Arcann was an understatement, but she’d done it anyway, and she wasn’t about to apologize for that act.

Valkorian had told her point blank he thought she was an idiot, but she didn’t must care about the opinion of the ancient Sith ghost in her head. He could be insightful and helpful, when he wanted to be. The rest of the time he was a controlling old man who had taken up uninvited residence in her skull.

Life was complicated to say the least.

Lana and Theron, though they didn’t like the decision, chose to trust her reasons, even if they still had some misgivings. Koth’s disapproving glares had said all they needed to about his opinion on the subject.

Scorpio and Vaylin were still out there, and she knew those two were going to be a problem, but for the moment, they’d earned a short reprieve; hopefully long enough for her to get rid of this headache and catch up on her sleep if nothing else.

Corvys rubbed at her forehead as she headed for the exit to the war room, vaguely debating a visit to the cantina, but decided a bath and then a visit to the medics would do her far more good than whiskey right now. She was still covered in soot and blood from her fight with Arcann. She was half way to her quarters on their base, barely aware of her surroundings with her pounding head, when she almost ran into Koth.

He reached out and caught her by the arms before she could run into him, his expression still angry as he looked down at her. “Why did you let them go?” he demanded.

In her fatigue, Corvys didn’t bother moderating her tone with him. “Senya and Arcann?” she snapped. “Because there’s been enough death and dying, Koth, and there’s going to be more before this is all over. How many people have died that didn’t need to? Sure I’m willing to put a blaster bolt into anyone I have to, but it isn’t about revenge anymore, it’s about doing what’s right.”

She had a brief thought that Corso would have been proud of her for that statement. Years ago, money had been her main goal, at least on the surface, but she’d ended up doing a lot of good, just because it was right, not because she was getting paid.

She sagged a bit in Koth’s grip. “Because sometimes even I get tired of killing people, Koth. I sensed something in them, before Senya cut off contact…there’s something more there than just hatred now. Could I rightly snuff that out?”

“After all the pain and suffering that monster has caused?” Koth swore.

“The pain and suffering Arcann has caused is paled in comparison to the suffering caused by your beloved kriffing Emperor,” Corvys snarled, wretching herself from Koth’s grip. “But all you see is some of the ‘good’ he did while he ruled Zakuul. He literally ate a planet, Koth. I WAS THERE. The Jedi with me felt all life on Zoist completely snuffed out. Valkorian is still the same man he was…he’s in my kriffing head, I should know.”

She glared up at him with her glowing red eyes. “Now get the kriff out of my way before I do shoot something. I’m tired, I’m injured, and I just want a bath!”

Koth was staring at her, and when she brushed passed him, he made no move to stop her.

As she reached her quarters, stripped, and entered the fresher, her mind turned back on the confrontation, and it made her miss Corso even more. She was beginning to realize that the only person in the Alliance she really felt completely comfortable letting her guard down with was Bowdaar, and even then there were limits. 

She and Koth had always known they would never go beyond flirting with each other…they were using each other, really, she admitted to herself alone in her quarters. He used the appearance of a relationship with her to keep his deeper emotions for Lana at bay, and she used him for his lighthearted comfort. But it wasn’t love, it wasn’t even lust…it was just a friendship and two people putting on a front like they were in a relationship for everyone else.

It was something she probably never should have gotten involved in to begin with.

Wearily she finished a quick shower, changed into the nearest clothing, and forced herself to trudge across base to the medical center to have lingering injuries checked. The perfectly round scar on her abdomen from Arcann’s lightsaber at Asylum ached for no apparent reason. 

Throughout the medical exam and the application of kolto, she resolved to speak to Koth and put an end to their odd dance around each other. It wasn’t fair to them and it wasn’t fair to Lana. She’d seen the way the Sith woman watched Koth sometimes…for all that Lana was good at burying things, for a person who’d spent her life playing on people’s emotions to make the best deal possible, she couldn’t hide it from Corvys.

And someday, when this entire mess was cleaned up, and Scorpio and Vaylin had been dealt with, and she actually had more than a day to herself again, Corvys was going to find Corso. She refused to accept that her husband might be dead. So someday, she would find him, and see if there was anything left after five and a half years to rekindle.


	3. Aftermath and Betrayel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Commander deals with the aftermath of Voss and clears the air with Koth, then deals with an old power hungry enemy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Bioware and EA own SWTOR. I'm just playing with their toys.

The last thing that Corvys Duskier had ever expected was to see the ships of the Sith Empire coming to their rescue, but that’s exactly what had happened. Between Koth’s appearance on the Gravestone and the appearance of the Sith Empress, the Alliance and Voss had been saved from potential destruction at the hands of the Eternal Throne.

And now Empress Acina wanted to meet and discuss an alliance between the Alliance and the Sith Empire. It felt strange, but it had a tinge of hope to it, something Corvys hadn’t felt a lot of recently, not since Vaylin had taken the Eternal Throne and begun her campaign of terror.

She heard Lana and Theron discussing the prospect of a visit to Dromand Kaas, though her mind was already made up on the matter. She would take allies where she could find them in the war against Vaylin, and the Empire had significant firepower available.

The beep of her holocommunicator surprised her and she turned it on to see Koth standing on the bridge of the Gravestone. Casting a glance towards Lana and Theron, Corvys moved far enough away to give her some reasonable privacy before addressing the former Zakuulian army officer.

“What’s up Koth?” she asked. She and Koth hadn’t talked much since their confrontation over her letting Senya and Arcann go, and now that Senya was in a medbay and Arcann was on the lose again, she was hoping not to have a repeat of it.

Not long after their ‘discussion,’ Koth had left Odessan on the Gravestone to go and help a group of refugees from Arcann’s reign of terror. He’d cleared it with Lana and Theron, but hadn’t bothered mentioning so much to her until just before he’d left. He’d been deliberately avoiding her, so she hadn’t had a chance to discuss the end of their façade with him.

“I wanted to…apologize, much as I hate to, for yelling at you after the flag ship. I still don’t like it, I still don’t agree, but I can see why you did it,” Koth replied, some grudging respect tinging his voice. “You and I haven’t been getting along the way we used to,” he continued. “Missed that a little.”

Corvys sighed. “You’re a good friend, Koth,” she said. “And I value your friendship, even when we disagree.”

She saw his eyebrows arch in the holo. “Friend?” he asked in a questioning tone.

A holocall probably wasn’t the best place for this, but she was going to be leaving for Dromand Kaas soon and they didn’t have a lot of time, so she ploughed on. “Are you really in love with me, Koth, or is it just easier to flirt with me than try at a chance for a relationship with a certain Sith?” she asked him. “And how much easier is it for me to hide from the past than confront the fact that I have absolutely no idea in space where the man I married is?”

She saw momentary panic on Koth’s expression, then he gave a resigned sigh. “This isn’t the best place for this, Corvys,” he ventured.

“It’ll never be the best place, Koth, and I’m headed to Dromand Kaas in less than an hour. I don’t want any more lies, no matter how light hearted, between us,” Corvys replied seriously.

“She’s just so…” Koth’s voice trailed off a moment. “You’re right. I like you, as a friend, but I know who your heart belongs to, and you…you know who has mine.”

Corvys smiled a little sadly. “Exactly,” she replied. “When Theron, Lana, and I get back from Dromand Kaas, I want you to tell her, Koth. She needs it, and so do you.”

“What about you?” he asked, arching his brows again. 

“After all of this is over, and I really have time, I’ll tear the galaxy apart if I have to, but I will find out what happened to Corso Riggs,” Corvys promised.

Koth grinned, surprising her a little. “Well, I guess it’s good we got that settled,” he said. He sobered a little. “Keep an eye on her for me, Corvys, and I’ll see the three of you when you get back.”

“I will, I promise,” Corvys replied.

They disconnected the holocall and Corvys made her way towards the shuttle.

“Everything alright?” Lana inquired as Corvys boarded the vessel.

“Yeah,” Corvys replied, she glanced at Lana out of the corner of her eye. “Better than it’s been.”

Lana gave her a questioning look with those golden eyes but didn’t press further.

~~

There were some people completely worth saving, and others that you killed before they could come back and try to kill you. Minister Lorman was one of those individuals. Former Republic Chancellor Saresh, Corvys decided, was another. 

After Empress Acina had force choked Lorman, Corvys had happily put a blaster bolt through his chest. She and the Empress were in perfect accord on that matter. She found she actually rather liked the new Sith Empress, as strange as it sounded. The woman had a solid head on her shoulders and was a force to be reckoned with both politically (as was obvious since she wrangled Sith Lords), and in battle. Corvys had a feeling Acina was going to be a solid ally.

She left Acina on Dromand Kaas to clean up the mess Lorman had made while she boarded the shuttle with Theron and Lana to Odessan. 

Corvys wanted blood for what Saresh had done. Working with Lorman to have Empress Acina and Corvys assassinated, and then trying to take over the Alliance that Corvys had bled to build did more than piss the Chiss smuggler off. Saresh had always been out for power, that had been evident from the moment Corvys had met the woman on Taris, and she’d been mucking things up for far too long time time.

Corvys wasn’t just going to confront the shab, she was going to kill her, point blank.

Lana and Theron could see the rage written on their Commander’s face, and she could tell by their own expressions that they wouldn’t stand in her way.

“We can’t contact anyone,” Theron said as they flew through hyperspace. “It will give up the element of surprise if we do, and she might manage to sneak away.”

“Agreed,” Lana said. She glanced at Corvys. “I’ve a feeling Koth will be thankful to see you alive. Theron and I were.”

Corvys caught the emotion shimmering behind Lana’s gaze and leaned forward, meeting Lana’s golden gaze. “Koth and I aren’t anything more than friends, Lana,” she said seriously. “I know it’s looked like it, but we’ve really not done much besides flirting…it was easier for both of us for awhile.”

“You’re still looking for Corso,” Theron stated. “I’ve seen some of the search and Hylo’s inquires,” he elaborated when Corvys gave him an odd look. 

“Yeah, I’m still searching for him,” Corvys confirmed. “And Koth’s got his heart set on someone else as well. He and I both agreed it was time to stop dancing around the truth and just own up to it.”

“Really?” Lana met Corvys’s gaze, looking for some confirmation, and then the Sith smiled and sat back in her seat. “Now we just have to reach Odessan before Saresh convinces everyone to allow her to lead the Alliance.”

“Even if she convinced them, I’d kill her,” Corvys growled. “I’m not letting that shab get away with this. She’s an opportunist, a liar, and perfectly willing to do whatever it takes to get more power…I’m not letting her live after this, and risk someone on the outside trying to break her out.”

“I think we are of an accord,” Lana agreed, her tone deceptively calm.

“Well, four minutes to Odessan,” Theron said with a smirk.


	4. Drunken Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corvys and Theron get drunk to celebrate. While staggering to her quarters, Corvys runs into the last, and best person, she'd ever hope to encounter again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Bioware and EA own SWTOR, I'm just playing with their toys.

The sound of the blaster bolt from Sparkles rang in her ears, followed by the hollow thud as Saresh’s body hit the plastcreet floor of the dais. The Chiss’s red eyes narrowed as she regarded the body and heard Theron mention how much he enjoyed that moment.

She snorted and cast a glance up at the assembled crowd. Shock flickered over the expressions of some, but there was satisfaction in the gazes of others…particularly Torian Cadera and Aric Jorgen. She couldn’t regret her decision to kill Saresh after the twi’lek had tried to have her assassinated. Had she lived, she wouldn’t have trusted Saresh not to twist people into doing her bidding, even here on Odessan. 

Corvys had taken the most logical step to eliminate a threat to the Alliance, to their new allies the Sith Empire and to the Republic that Corvys had served for years.

“Empress Acina is awaiting your contact in the War Room, Commander,” Lana advised the scoundrel in her dry voice. She gave Corvys a nod and then headed towards the war room with Theron. Out of the corner of her eye, Corvys could see Koth moving in that direction as well. She knew the Gravestone would probably be heading out again soon, but hopefully Koth would actually take her advise and talk to Lana.

As she looked back at the now dispersing crowd again, she frowned faintly as she thought she saw a familiar looking head of dreadlocks to the far side of the crowd. Whoever it was vanished into the throng of moving figures, though, and she sighed, knowing she needed to address Acina. 

Her longing to see Corso again must be getting to her mentally. She shook her head to clear it and let her steps carry her towards the War Room. Imagining her husband in the hanger bay of their base wouldn’t help anyone, though it didn’t stop her from wondering who the person had been, or if she had just imagined them completely. Perhaps she’d talk to Hylo that evening and see if the woman knew anything.

For now, though, she had work to do.

It seemed like hours later that she finally had free time again. As she exited the War Room, she saw Koth approaching Lana, and a curious look flicker across the Sith’s face before the two wandered off. Theron noticed to and gave Corvys a knowing look, and a faint smirk before the two of them headed towards the cantina.

“Think he’ll actually make a move?” Theron asked her conversationally as the two of them settled into a booth and a service droid brought them both drinks. 

Corvys shrugged, sipping her whiskey before she answered. “I can hope so, but how long did those two know each other before they even thawed me out?” she asked. “Whatever he does, he’d best do it quick. According to the ship log, the Gravestone is due out tomorrow morning. Another run of helping refugees I suppose.”

“I can always tap into her quarters and his tonight and find out,” Theron offered idly.

Corvys shot him an amused look and shook her head. “Let them have a bit of privacy, Theron.”

“You ruin all my fun,” he gave her a mock pout before he took a sip of his own drink.

Theron had loosened up considerably since the first time she’d met him, or even when they’d first landed on Odessan. The man still worked to hard, but at least he did try and take time to relax now and again.

“So what are we drinking to tonight?” Corvys asked him as she leaned her head back against the booth. “Victory?”

“The end of a warmonger who did the Republic more harm than good,” Theron replied firmly. “Saresh never cared for anything other than power. She was a good spin doctor though. She’d have people eating out of her hand, thinking she really wanted to help them.”

“She’s been that way forever,” Corvys replied thoughtfully, thinking back to the first time she’d met the twi’lek, and the instant dislike she felt for the former governor of Taris. “She was that way when I was just a lowly freighter pilot and she was stationed on Taris.”

“Well good riddance,” Theron said, raising his glass.

Corvys snorted in agreement and clinked her tumbler against his glass. 

“All I ever wanted was a sky full of stars and the freedom of my ship,” Corvys mused as she sat drinking with him. “The good I did started out as accidental, really. Then I found myself helping civilians and resistance fighters, then taking on a criminal empire, then working with you and Lana.” She shook her head. “We’ve knocked one tyrant off the throne and are trying to depose a mad woman…there’s been a lot of death in all of this, but there’s been some hope too.”

“My mother would say there’s always hope,” Theron added. “Not sure how much of it I believe, but she’d say it all the same.” He shrugged. They both knew his relationship with Satele Shan was complicated at best. She’d heard he had a better relationship with Jace Malcom now than a few years ago, though. Corvys could relate in some ways, since describing her relationship with her family as “complicated” would be an understatement.

“I prefer not to give up hope,” Corvys replied. “Hope we’ll succeed, hope Corso’s still out there…I’ve got an ancient Sith Emperor still living in my head, hope gives me something else to try and focus on.”

“I remember Corso,” Theron nodded, thinking back to the times he’d see Corvys’s first mate and husband at her side during the campaigns on Rishi and Ziost. “How’d you two ever meet, anyway? He seemed a little more…”

“Open, stable, easy to read?” Corvys offered with a sad smile. “He and I were opposites in some ways, but I always knew where I stood with him, no matter what we got into. He was a counter balance, and a good one.” She chuckled. “The first time he really flirted with me openly he was drunk. I told him I was open to a little drunken gunplay. That ended up coming later, but it was fun.”

“Drunken gunplay?” Theron lifted his brows. “That doesn’t even remotely sound like a good idea.”

“Bah, you’re too serious, Theron. You need to get laid,” Corvys told him.  
“By who?” Theron inquired idly. 

“You’ll find someone. Maybe one of our new Sithy allies can help you cut lose,” Corvys said mischievously.

Theron eyed her. “You’re crazy.”

“Always have been, always will be,” Corvys replied cheerfully, beginning to really feel the effects of the alcohol. She eyed the now empty tumbler and thought, for one night, she’d let herself get drunk then sleep it off…it was better than another night of longing dreams or nightmares. “Come on, Theron, lets get drunk.”

“Really?” he asked her. “You really think that’s a good idea.”

“Oh stop being so serious for once. It’s not like I’m going to seduce you. We’ll both get drunk, stumble to our own rooms, and sleep it off. One night can’t hurt,” Corvys said.

She was still in fairly high spirits hours later, when she and Theron were both fairly well knackered and the SIS agent was actually singing some old cantina tune, horribly off key.

Corvys snickered into her tumbler as Vette rolled her eyes at the SIS agent. Vette had joined them an hour or so into their drinking, and definitely hadn’t had nearly as much as the two former Republic members had. 

“Please Theron, you’re hurting my ears,” Vette groaned as she smacked the former SIS agent in the shoulder. She eyed Corvys. “You shouldn’t encourage him.”

“He needed to loosen up for an evening,” Corvys protested innocently. “How else was he going to?”

“Mm, room’s spinning,” Theron mumbled as he came to the end of the song.

Vette sighed and shook her head at the both of them. “Come on Theron, let me get you back to your room. Commander, you are on your own.”

“Sure, leave your Commander all on her lonesome,” Corvys snorted. She watched the smaller twi’lek help Theron maneuver out of the booth and the cantina with some amusement as she drained her tumbler again. 

She slouched back in the booth, thinking of a couple of times in the past when Corso had helped her back to the ship after she’d had too much to drink. She missed those times. He’d always been a shoulder she could lean on, one of those few people she could let her guard down with.

“Bah, guess I am on my own,” she mumbled as she lurched to her feet, thinking of the long walk back to her own quarters. She half walked, half stumbled out of the cantina, knowing she’d probably have a bad headache in the morning, but for once not caring. A headache would be worth it if she managed to sleep tonight without any sort of dreams.

“Stupid Emperor eating words, stupid Eternal fleet attacking Darth Marr’s ship, stupid me telling Corso to make a run for it,” she muttered as she stumbled towards her rooms. She managed to trip over a piece of carelessly left out equipment and went staggering forward.

Only to find herself caught in a pair of arms, a her cheek hitting a solid chest. It felt for a moment like when she’d pressed against Corso’s chest and she felt tears begin to slip from her eyes as she muttered. “Thanks…little drunk.”

“Why do you ever let yourself get in such a state, Captain?” a warm, familiar voice asked. 

Corvys jerked her head up, magenta hair falling out of her usual bun as she stared up blearily at the man who’d caught her. “No…mind’s playing tricks on me, can’t be you,” she bit back a cry, scalding hot tears streaming down her cheeks now. “Or I’m dreamin’ again…that why I drank so much to begin with, just wanna sleep without dreams. Kriff.” She sobbed.

Corso Riggs looked down at his sobbing wife and pulled her firmly back into his arms, himself not quite able to believe that she was really there after so long. “No Sweetheart,” he murmured in her ear. “I promise I’m real this time. And this time, I’m not going anywhere.”


	5. Realizations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koth and Lana finally have a long overdue conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: SWTOR belongs to Bioware and EA, I'm just playing with their toys.

The day had been, from Lana Beniko’s perspective, very productive. They’d ended the threat from Saresh and they’d secured an alliance with the Sith Empire. Commander Corvys seemed pleased with the results, and she’d told Lana she was going to try and make Theron relax, at least for one evening. Lana wished her luck, since Theron seemed the one most determined to work himself into the ground. She couldn’t recall the last time the man had even taken a lover. 

There was something to be said for letting yourself get lost in passion now and again. As Sith, Lana’s passion and emotions were a source of strength, though over the past few years most of her passion had come from getting the job done and the drive to get Arcann off the Eternal Throne.

She heard footsteps behind her as she left the War Room and glanced over her shoulder, lifting an eyebrow when she saw Koth following her.

“Yes Koth?” she asked, turning to face the former Zakuulian officer she’d spent so much time with over the past few years.

“Do have time to talk, privately, Lana?” Koth asked. She saw him rubbing the back of his neck and recognized it as a nervous gesture…when was Koth ever nervous about talking to her.

She recalled Corvys’s words on the flight back from Dromand Kaas, and the Commander advising her that she and Koth had never actually had a relationship. The entire thing had been a ruse, for both of them, and that Koth’s heart belonged to someone else.

For some reason that thought made Lana’s heart beat a bit faster, but she kept her expression schooled. She hadn’t survived so long among the Sith by acting like a lovesick girl.

“If you wish,” she replied.

The two of them walked in relative silence towards Lana’s quarters, the Sith woman figuring it would be more private that most other parts of the base. She knew Koth and his crew would be heading out on the Gravestone again, and he seemed to feel something was important enough to ask to speak with her in private. 

Her head could provide a few fantasies, but it was better to focus on reality. Life was often what you made of it, not exactly what you wanted.

She heard the doors hiss shut behind them as they entered her quarters and she turned towards him, regarding the odd sight of nervousness in Koth Vortena’s eyes. “What did you wish to talk about?”

“How much as the Commander told you, about, er, her and my flirting?” Koth asked.

Lana blinked. “She told me it was just flirting and the two of you were never actually in a relationship.”

Koth looked relieved; almost as if he was glad he didn’t have to explain it himself. “Saves me a little time then,” he sighed. “So, yeah, Corvys and I talked. I know she’s married and all and she’s still hoping to find her husband. For me it was easier to, well, flirt, than actually admit that maybe I felt someone for someone else.”

“Something Koth?” Lana asked, feeling a spark of impatience. Couldn’t the man just get to whatever point he needed to make?

“You and I have worked together for a long time now, Lana,” he said. “When I first met the Outlander, she asked me if we were together and I told her it wasn’t like that. You’d saved me a bunch of times and I’d saved you a bunch of times, and we were colleagues and friends. Well, I lied.”

“You lied?” Lana asked, her impatience starting to come through in her tone.

“Yes I lied,” Koth snapped back at her impatience, feeling a rising annoyance in himself, though at who or what he wasn’t sure. “I told her it wasn’t like that, and it wasn’t, but I kind of what it to be.”

“You mean you want to be with me?” Lana’s face was suddenly expressionless, and Koth really wished he knew what she was thinking right now.

He scuffed at the floor with his boot. “Yes, Lana. You amaze me, and you frustrate me, and you drive me crazy. And I…well I love you for it. I’ve never felt anything like this before for anyone else. When the Commander described what it was like between her and her husband, I realize that’s what I wanted, and I knew it wasn’t with her. There’s only one woman who can drive me so crazy I want to spend the rest of my life with her, and that’s you.”

“You idiot,” Lana sighed. Then she surprised him by yanking Koth forward to her by his collar and planting her lips against his own.

Koth had always known Sith were intense, and Lana was no different, but nothing had really prepared him for the reality of it. He surrendered to the kiss, pulling her body flush against his own and returning the kiss, deepening it as she tangled her fingers along his neck and in his hair.

When they finally had to come up for air again, Lana was wearing a satisfied smile, and Koth supposed he looked a bit bemused. “I hope there’s going to be a lot more of that,” he ventured.

“A lot more,” Lana promised. “Sith are guided by their passions, and my passion for you will be a strength, and a great source of delight.” She was smirking at him now.

Koth cast a glance towards the door and then back at her as he felt her body pressed against his, and groaned as she shifted against him, teasing him. “That’s locked, right?”

“Yes,” Lana replied calmly. “I think you need to give me something to remind me of you before you head off on the Gravestone tomorrow.”

Koth felt desire and relief sweep through him. He let her back him towards the bed as she began pulling his goggles off his head. “I think you’re right, and something to remind us both of what I’m coming home to.”

Her delighted laughter followed them as they tumbled into bed, together.


	6. Rekindling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Commander Corvys wakes up alone, but soon enough realizes she isn't really alone, and a much happier reunion ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: SWTOR is owned by Bioware and EA. I am just playing with their toys.

Corvys came awake to find herself alone and with a pounding head. She stared blearily around the room and groaned. Blindly she groped for the canteen of water on her beside dresser and downed half the contents, staring blankly in front of her. 

Dry mouth from her hangover dealt with, she forced herself to her feet, conscious of grabbing clothing from the drawer under her bed, and stumbling into the fresher with the hope that hot water and steam would help with some of the pain. In her pain induced haze, she didn’t seem to notice that the left side of the bed actually appeared slept in, and that there was a pile of unfamiliar gear on that side of the bed, and a rifle within easy reach of the bed itself. 

She pressed her head against the cool plastcrete of the fresher wall and let the hot water tumble over her, beginning to wash away an edge of the pain and bring her more back to the present. 

Last night she could have sworn she’d run drunkenly into Corso and her husband had carefully, lovingly, guided her back to her quarters, and she’d slept all the night with his arms wrapped tightly around her. Waking up alone shattered that and left her feeling even more alone than ever. She turned her face into the water as she felt scalding tears spilling down her cheeks.

It wouldn’t do for the Alliance to see their Commander like this, she thought grimly. She’d have to get dressed and go get some kaff, and pretend for the troops that she was just working through a normal hangover, the result of celebrating too hard with Theron the night before.

Her heart felt like lead, but it was the best thing to do. She’d learned last night whiskey wasn’t the best way to chase away her dreams of Corso Riggs; it just made the dreams that more vivid. Maybe one of the medics could prescribe something for insomnia? She was trying to try any normal route to escape the dreams of her husband. Contraband she had no interest in, not after the things she’d smuggled over the years.

The water finally began growing cold and she finally had to get out and get dressed. Matching her clothing was never a problem, since all of her shirts were some neutral tone and would go with anything. She silently thanked her mother for teaching her that technique at least, even if she rarely thanked her parents for anything else. She pulled on the gruel colored shirt and black pants, then stared at her tired blue face in the mirror. Darker blue ringed under her red eyes, showing the wear the past few months had placed on her. 

Corvys forced a comb through her thick magenta locks and then twisted her hair back into its usual bun, missing the days when Corso would brush her hair then braid it for her. She stared at the fresher door for a moment, dreading the long walk to the mess, but even though the steam had helped with some of the pain, she knew she needed kaff.

She opened the door and went to reach for her boots, then stopped dead.

Her boots were on the left side of the bed. She always put them on the right, because Corso had always slept on the left. The scuffed black leather boots slouched next to an unfamiliar bag of gear, and a rifle leaned against the wall near the head of the bed.

Her eyes moved from the rifle to the left side of the bed and the rumpled sheets, showing someone had lain beside her last night.  
Corvys started to shake, wondering if she was finally losing her mind with Valkorian rattling around in there so much. She fell in a heap onto the bed, her back to the mattress, staring blankly up at the ceiling above her.

After a few minutes of hearing only her panicked breathing, she heard the doors woosh open, and well remembered voice call to her, and it made her think she really must be mad now. 

“Hey Captain, brought some kaff since I figured you’d have a headache,” Corso Riggs said cheerfully as he carried a tray of food and kaff into the room. He paused in the doorway when he saw his wife lying on the bed, her eyes staring blankly at the ceiling as she tried to regulate her breathing.

Concerned, Corso set the tray down on a table and crossed the room, pulling her immediately into his arms.

“Corvys?” he asked gently. He could feel her shaking against him as she pressed her head into his shirt.

“Tell me this is real, please tell me I’m not dreaming and I haven’t finally lost my mind,” she whispered against his chest.

Corso lifted her chin lightly with his hand and brushed a gentle kiss against her lips. “It’s real, Love,” he promised. “I’m really here, though it took me forever to believe you were still alive, and longer to find you again.”

Her arms went around his neck and he felt her sag against him, relief and urgency in her kiss. Finally she pulled back and stared up at him, her red eyes glowing as she placed her hands on either side of his face. “It’s been so long,” she said softly. “I was in carbonite for five years, and then when Lana and Koth woke me, you and the crew were gone, and I’d missed so much. Nobody could find you…”

Corso grimaced. “It’s been a rough five or six years,” he replied. “After your defeat and the announcement that the Emperor had been killed and the Eternal Fleet attacked..” He shook his head. “It took me ages to be able to make it back to Wild Space, and when I did, there was no sign of you. I ended up back in the Republic, but with everything Saresh was doing it seemed better to go underground. Been helping out refugees and others affected by the war.”

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I never wanted to leave you Corso.”

“It ain’t your fault, Corvys,” he said softly. He pulled her into his lap and held her tightly against him. “I went on trying to live without, and it was a life, but there was a big hole in it. Then a few months ago Arcann was forced off the throne, and rumors started buzzing even in Republic Space about the Outlander who’d brought him down.” He lifted his dark brown eyebrows and there was a hint of amusement in those chocolate brown eyes. “You never did do things by halves, and there aren’t many Chiss smugglers who used to work for the Republic. I managed to get in contact with Hylo Visz when I got out to Wild Space a few days ago and she gave me the coordinates to Odessan.”

The dreadlocks she’d seen in the crowd after killing Saresh..

“You saw me kill Saresh.” She didn’t make it a question.

Corso nodded slowly. “Yeah. Took me a bit aback, then some Mandaloran told me that she’d tried to have you and the Sith Empress assassinated.” He gave her a bemused look. “You’re making galaxy changing alliances with Sith Empresses now, Captain?”

“I know it’s still the Empire,” Corvys found herself explaining. “But there have been changes, and to take Vaylin down, we need powerful allies. We might have been dead if they hadn’t shown up at Voss when they did.”

“Can’t say I’m too fond of the idea, but you’ve obviously been at all of this a bit longer than I,” Corso shrugged. “Commander of the Alliance, I hear them calling you. I always knew you cared about others more than you show.”

“Someone has to do it,” she said softly. She shifted against him. “Kriff I’ve missed you, Corso, so much.”

“Me too,” he replied, leaning down to kiss her again.

That deep kiss brought a groan from both of them and Corso pulled back reluctantly. “Come on, Captain, lets get some Kaff and food into you.” He cocked his head towards the bed. “Then you’re mine for the morning at least.”

“Lana hasn’t scheduled any meetings yet, and Theron’s probably sleeping off a hangover,” Corvys replied amiably. “And you and I have a lot of catching up to do.”

He growled softly at the heated look she gave him and kissed her again before parting to go and grab the tray of food and kaff. 

For a few hours at least, there would be no one in the galaxy but the two of them.


	7. Distress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Alliance receives Koth's distress signal at the base and Corvys rallies the troops, and finds Corso tagging along for the ride.
> 
> Note: Again some non-canon, but after their reunion, I don't think Corso would be inclined to let the Captain out of his sight any time soon.

The past three days had been the longest break that Corvys had experienced in awhile. With the excitement on Dromand Kaas, dealing with Saresh, and Corso’s reappearance, she’d let herself fall into a slightly more relaxed state than usual. There’d still been issues to deal with around the base and meetings to attend to review strategy and their next plans against Vaylin, but nothing particularly dire.

The night before she’d been drinking with Vette, Torian, Theron, Corso, and even Lana in the cantina. She’d occasionally seen Lana’s gaze stray to a spot where Koth usually say, but the woman gave no other outward signs of being distressed at the pilot’s absence. Lana was the coolest headed Sith that Corvys had ever met, and she’d met several since joining the Alliance. She’d seen Lana truly angry once, at Saresh, and she wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of the woman.

She had Corso had retired earlier than the others to their room, anxious to make up for lost time. They both knew this lull in activity couldn’t last, and Corso had told her with all his farmboy bluntness that he wasn’t going to waste any opportunities with her, not after over five years apart.

Now she stood in the war room looking at a display of one planet or another that the Eternal Empire was blockading, again. Corso had wandered off to talk to Hylo about making runs for the Alliance’s smuggling empire, since that was what Corso knew best after so many years of working with his Captain. He’d been a fairly talented man when they’d married, but he’d sharpened many of his skills in Corvys’s absence, and there was a certain edge to him now that hadn’t been there before.

She still wasn’t sure what she thought of it, but she was grateful to have her husband back.

“Emergency transmission coming through, but there’s a lot of interference, boss,” Vette reported as she adjusted knobs on the transmitter. “It’s coming from the Gravestone, Koth.”

Corvys frowned and exchanged a glance with Lana. “Koth wouldn’t call unless there was trouble.”

Lana nodded in uneasy agreement.

The next several, tense minutes had Corvys’s mind working in overdrive. Koth had just barely managed to get through to them and alert them that Vaylin and Scorpio had tricked their way onto the Gravestone and had control of the bridge, then the line went dead.

Corvys could see a rising fury and barely smothered panic in Lana’s eyes as she looked at the Sith. 

“Vette, grab Torian and Jorgan and suit up. Theron, ready the shuttle. Lana, get kitted up. We’re going after them.”

“This could be a trap,” Theron hazarded even as he started towards the shuttle pad.

“Of course it’s a trap,” Corvys swore as she started towards her quarters to get geared up. “But this is Koth and the Gravestone we’re talking about. We need that ship. More importantly, Koth is our friend and our ally. I’m not leaving him to Vaylin’s mercies!”

As the emergency alert rang through the base, Corso came jogging in from Hylo’s sector, and immediately fell into step beside his wife when he saw her heading for their quarters. “What’s up?” he asked, meeting her pace easily.  
“Koth’s been out on the Gravestone and somehow Scorpio and Vaylin tricked their way aboard,” Corvys muttered as they walked, only half paying attention. As they reached their room she opened the gun save and pulled out Sparkles and a thigh hostler, stowing the blaster pistol there and then checked the pistol she always wore at her hip, the one she’d built with Marr and Satele Shan’s help. Satisfied with the two blaster pistols, she retrieved a scatter gun and slipped it home into the holster on her other hip. She frowned over the weapons case and slipped a vibroknife into special sheaths she’d had customized into both boots for good measure. 

She turned and went through the wardrobe, pulling out an armored leather jacket, then noticed that Corso was fastening the last seals on his armor and securing Flashy, a vibrosword, and Sargent BoomBoom on his person.

“Where are you doing?” she asked, narrowing her red eyes.

Corso glanced up at her as he slung the blaster rifle over one shoulder, that hard edge she’d noticed a few days ago coming to his gaze. “I’m going with you, Corvys. I lost you once, I’m not losing you again. From what you’ve told me, this Scorpio and definitely Vaylin are more than willing to kill or worse anything that gets in their way. I’m not letting you walk in there alone.”

She wanted him safe, kriff. “I’m not going alone,” she reminded him. “I’ve got a slicer, a SpecOps soldier, a Mandaloran, an ex-SIS agent, and a Sith going with me.”

“Not good enough,” Corso shot back. “I’m coming with you, Corvys, deal with it.”

She was a little taken aback by his forcefulness. He’d always followed her lead and most of her orders before. Corvys took a breath. Over the past several months she’d gotten used to having most orders she gave followed, but Corso was his own man and had to make his own decisions.

“Then lets go,” she said as she slipped her jacket on. 

Theron and Lana both gave her a curious glance when Corso joined them on the shuttle, but neither of them decided to say anything. They both knew that Corso had worked with Corvys extensively, and since they didn’t know what they would be facing on the Gravestone, having another person with them might not be a bad idea.

Torian gave Corso an appraising look as Corso strapped in to one of the seats, then slapped the smuggler on the back in approval. “You’ll have her six?” the Mandaloran asked.

“Always,” Corso replied firmly.

Torian and Aric Jorgan both nodded their approval, both men settling rifles over their laps as they settled in for the ride.

Vette only nodded, and Corvys could see the worry in her eyes as she settled in across from the slicer. 

“Scorpio and Vaylin might think they’ve outsmarted us, but all they’ve done is given us more inceptive to kick their kriffing behinds,” Corvys said in a low voice to the group. “And I swear when I get my hands on that womprat, I’m going to snap her neck.”

“Not shoot her?” Theron asked in as light a tone as he could muster.

“I’ll put a blaster to her brain after I know she can’t come after me,” Corvys growled. “That womprat has already done enough damage…I might have let Senya go to try and save Arcann..I don’t know about that decision yet, but there is no forgiveness or redemption for Vaylin. She’s crazy, and she has to die.”

“If you don’t kill her, I will,” Lana replied.

“Well, at least I know where to shoot,” Corso remarked, reaching over to take his wife’s hand in his own. She tensed a moment then let him, taking that momentary comfort before they charged into battle.

Whatever happened, Corso swore he wouldn’t let the woman beside him die or end up in carbonite again.


	8. Retaking the Gravestone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew tries to retake the Gravestone from Vaylin and Corso reflects on the changes of the past 5 years in both himself and his wife.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Bioware and EA own SWTOR, I am just playing with their toys

When the blast doors opened to reveal Koth, Corvys lowered her blaster, relief flickering over her features. “Good, you’re still alive.”

Lana didn’t bother with a conventional greeting, she simply marched to the former Zakuul military man and yanked his mouth to hers.

Some of the tension seemed to flee Koth’s expression when Lana kissed him, and Corvys fought back a smirk. She knew there were more important matters at hand. “Alright Koth, bring us up to speed.”

Later Corvys would wonder what in kriff had been going through Koth’s mind when he planted the bomb, but they needed to address that problem first. “Corso, go with Lana. Koth and I will defuse the bomb.”

Corso gave his wife a speculative look. “If you’re sure,” was all he said though. He’d rather have her six, but if they were going to split up, this split made the most logical sense. Corvys was better at slicing and defusing things that Corso was, and an extra blaster accompanying Lana couldn’t hurt.

So he crossed to his wife and caught her up in his arms in a firm kiss before he left her side to follow Lana. They were still both adjusting to this new reality. Before she’d been frozen, they’d both know exactly where they stood, on and off the battle field. Now, well Corso had spent the past several years playing hero on his own, and Corvys had an Alliance to command. They’d always been partners, but it had usually just been the two of them and the crew. Now there were a number of other people thrown into the mix, and the stakes were a lot higher.

Corso Riggs wasn’t sure if he considered Koth Vortena brilliant, or just plain stupid. On one hand, placing a quantum bomb on the ship to keep it out of the hands of Vaylin and Scorpio might be good, on the other, it might get them all and fair amount of Corvys’s fleet killed.

He shook his head as he followed Lana Beniko through the unfamiliar access tunnels of the Gravestone while this Koth Vortena and Corvys went to take care of the bomb and hopefully regain the bridge. “Does he always do things like that?” Corso asked in a curious voice as he followed the Sith.

“Occasionally,” Lana replied somewhat absently, and Corso saw her cast a glance more in the direction that Corvys and Koth had taken than anything else. 

Now that was a big change for him. He remembered Lana from Rishi and Yavin 4, and the work his wife had done with the Sith and Theron Shan. He supposed the fate of the galaxy had formed stranger alliances. If you’d told him on Ord Mantel that someday he’d be assisting a Sith, he’d have laughed in your face, but Corvys had a strange way about her of bringing former enemies together as allies.

Corso had spent much of the past few days observing the state of things on the Alliance base on Odessan. There was still tension between some of those who were former enemies, but most worked relatively well together, working towards the same goal.

And every one of them seemed dedicated to the Alliance; their old ties to Republic or Empire falling to ash in the face of the Eternal Throne.

Truth was, Corso had spent the past several years helping both former Imperials and Republic in the aftermath of the Eternal Fleet’s bombardment and war on the Core worlds. Misery didn’t care what side you were on.

He wondered how his wife had made the adjustment. He’d picked up on bits and pieces of her involvement in everything over the past several months, but not all of it.

Most disturbing of all was the fact that the former Sith Emperor evidently resided in her head, and she was somehow attuned to the Force. She hadn’t suddenly become a Jedi, but it had left its mark on her. 

His thoughts were quickly pushed away when they encountered some of Vaylin’s Skytroopers. Corso quickly adjusted his style to match the Sith’s, thinking Lana Beniko was a formidable woman in battle. He’d been used to working on the fly with his wife before, but his ability to adjust to new situations and partners in battle had increased since they’d been apart.

It was a slog through the ship and through bodies of skytroopers and other troopers, and Corso found he wanted to put a blaster bolt through Vaylin’s head even more with every step.

Somehow he and Lana ended up in a part of the ship Lana termed “the Dark Sanctuary,” a place with a monolith that made him feel ill just looking at it. The confrontation with the Eternal Empress, or crazed womprat as Corso would think of her in the future, took him a bit off guard. Vaylin’s strength in the Force was downright frightening.

Corso found himself slammed against a wall of the room, head spinning, fairly certain he had a concussion. The click of boots on metal filled his ears and he groaned at the pain. The sound of Corvys’s voice brought him a little more to the here and now, but he wasn’t entirely certain what happened to make Vaylin back off. Something stopped her from striking Corvys down, but from the shimmering aura he saw around his wife (it might just be the head wound), he wasn’t sure he liked whatever it was.

Then Vaylin was gone, and Koth was helping him to his feet. The world spin a moment and he put his hand on the wall to steady himself.

“Where’s Vaylin?” Lana demanded. Corso found himself appreciating that at least the Sith seemed to retain her focus through pretty much anything.

“She’s gone, but we’ve got other problems,” Corvys replied tersely. “You two alright?”

“Pretty sure he’s got a concussion, Commander,” Koth reported as he held up a light and checked Corso’s pupils. 

“Oh let me look,” Lana said, stepping up to Corso. Corso saw his wife cross her arms, expression strangely impassive as Lana looked him over. The Sith sighed and touched his head. “There, any better?”

He felt an odd rush through his head and then the world stopped spinning and his vision cleared. He met the Sith’s gold eyes and nodded cautiously. “Yeah..”

“Good.” Lana seemed to promptly dismiss him from her mind and turned to Koth, dragging the man to one corner for a moment and spoke to him in a low tone. From what he could tell of their tones, at least it wasn’t a bad conversation.

“Try not to get your brains scrambled, Farm boy,” Corvys said affectionately as she stepped up to him. “I’d really hate for you to lose your good sense.” She reached out and squeezed his hand before she started pulling him out of the room. “Come on, back to the bridge. We need to figure where the Gravestone is going and where Vaylin and Scorpio are.”

Corso squeezed his wife’s hand, realizing she was keeping panic at bay with terse humor. With what he’d heard about her past few months, it was a wonder sometimes that she was still sane.

He stayed close at her heels as the four headed back to the bridge, and Corso wondered how much worse things were going to get before they got better. “I didn’t think it was possible for this job to get even more difficult,” he muttered.


	9. Iokath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Gravestone is directed to Iokath and the crew is separated. Koth wakes up to find himself alone on a strange planet and finds himself on a hunt for the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EA and Bioware own SWTOR, I'm just playing with their toys.
> 
> Author's note: More non-canon since Corso isn't in KOTET, but I wanted him there. He's taking Kaliyo's place in this particular chapter. In my head canon she's still back on Odsessan, plotting mayhem.

The relief that coursed through Koth Vortena when he saw Commander Corvys Duskier and the Sith Lana Beniko step through the door would have concerned him just a few years ago. After he’d defected from the Zakuul army, the only people he’d trusted were his crew, and while he’d been glad to see them upon reunited on Asylum, none of them quite inspired the amount of relief seeing Lana and Corvys did. Over the past year he’d become convinced that those two could take on a battalion of troops and win.

The stranger with them had given him pause for a moment, but it was clear Corvys trusted the man, and Lana seemed inclined to.

His reunion with Lana was as good as he’d hoped, when she’d hauled him by his collar to her for a kiss. Being in a relationship with her was going to be one void of a ride.

When they’d had to split up again, he’d seen the exchange between Corvys and the stranger, Corso, she’d called him. That told him all he needed to know about who the stranger was. So Corvys had finally found her missing husband, or he’d found her. Either way, it was good, and he was happy for his friend. 

In the ensuing madness of disarming things and retaking the Gravestone, no one had time for a nice long chat, but he at least got an idea of what was going on from Corvys, and then Lana afterwards.

Lana’s fight with Vaylin in the Sanctuary had frightened him, and Corvys had done…something, to stop the woman, something to do with Valkorian, that evoked some kind of pre-conditioning in Vaylin.

For perhaps the first time, Koth was beginning to realize there was a lot more to Valkorian than the Emperor he’d served, a far more sinister side that Koth had never seen the man display to the people of Zakuul. Corvys and Lana’s insistence that he was dangerous was beginning to make a lot more sense.

It made him uneasy. When all of this had started, he’d been certain that the key to all their problems lay in Valkorian helping the Commander from inside her head. He’d help her fix everything, somehow they’d destroy Arcann and Vaylin, and then they’d fix Zakuul and the rest of the galaxy.

He still wasn’t entirely certain why Corvys had let Arcann go, after they’d destroyed the fallen emperor’s flag ship, but let Senya save her son. Now Senya lay in a coma in the medical wing of the base at Odessan and they had no idea where Arcann was.

Koth would never admit it aloud, but he’d underestimated Senya. She’d had a mother’s love for Arcann, and done everything, including giving up her own life force, according to Corvys, to save Arcann. Arcann had evidently saved Senya on the flagship, and Corvys seemed to believe based on that he could be redeemed. Koth wasn’t so sure, but he was beginning to learn not to second guess most of the Commander’s decisions. She might put on the air of a devil-may-care smuggler, but there was a lot more to her than that, and she’d proven it time and time again.

Koth helped the new man, Corso, up, and watched as Lana checked the man for the concussion Koth was sure he had. Once Lana had tended the Commander’s husband, she was at his side though, a momentarily flicker of concern over her features as she regarded him. “How are you?” Lana asked.

Koth couldn’t help but smile at her. Why hadn’t he told her how he felt earlier? “I’m alright, but we need to get back to the bridge and we need to get control of this ship.”  
That was the last thing Koth really remembered before a blinding light overcame him and he passed out.

~~  
Koth came to alone, sprawled on top of moss and other weedy vegetation, and in some kind of ruin. His head ached and he rubbed at his temple as he slowly got to his feet. Other than the headache, he didn’t appear to have any injuries, and he still had his blaster and rifle, but he saw no sign of Lana, Corvys, Corso, or anything else who had been on the Gravestone. 

He shifted uneasily as he glanced around, wondering where in galaxy they were. As memories came back, he vaguely remembered hearing Scorpio saying something about the Gravestone wanting to go home, the ship jumping to hyperspace, and then that white light.

“Okay, find Lana, find the Commander, find the others,” he told himself.

He heard an odd whirring noise and looked up to see an odd diamond droid floating in the air not to far from him. It didn’t seem to be attacking, just hanging there, watching him…monitoring him. His first instinct was to shoot the thing, but it didn’t seem to have any intent to harm him.

He checked his comm and found it dead, unable to hail anyone. That was disturbing. He needed to find the others. Being alone in ruins on a strange planet was a bad idea in general, even more so when you didn’t know how you’d gotten there.

He passed through several ruined buildings without finding any signs of life but the plant life and the diamond droid. The place was eerily quiet, and it unnerved Koth quite a bit. 

After almost half an hour he heard the concussive sound of blaster fire and metal and picked up his pace, taking off in the direction of the sound. It had to be someone, at least he hoped it would be someone, and not an enemy. 

He found a lone man in a Zakuul naval uniform trying to fight off two droids. Koth brought his rifle to bear, taking one droid with two dead center shots. It dropped like a rock, and the man managed to knock the other off him and shot it in the general vicinity of the droid’s “head.” 

They both stared at each other for a long moment before Koth offered the man a hand up and the naval officer took it gratefully. 

“I don’t know what’s worse, being on one of Empress’s ships, or being here,” the man said as he glanced around as it waiting for more droids to attack. He looked intently at Koth. “You’re with the Alliance, aren’t you?”

Koth lifted a brow. “I am.”

The relief on the man’s face surprised him. “I’d like to surrender, please…if we can find the rest of my crew they may too.”

“Why?” Koth asked, suspicion creeping into his tone, and he wondered if this was just a trap.

The naval officer shuttered. “The Empress…Vaylin. She’s absolutely mad. She’ll kill just for the sheer pleasure of it. I saw her choke a Knight to death when he brought news she didn’t like. “ He looked desperate. “Please, accept my surrender and let me help your Alliance. Everyone is terrified of Vaylin.”

Koth felt a moment of destiny…it must have brought him here, at least down this corridor. Perhaps they could get additional allies within the ranks of the Zakuul navy and-

“Look out, more droids!” the naval officer cried. He grabbed Koth’s arm and urged him to run.

Koth glanced over his shoulder as he took off beside the man, seeing droids, very different from the diamond that had been following him chasing them, firing lasers at them. They ran for several minutes, dodging through the ruins, but other droids appeared from behind crumbling walls, hemming them in. 

In the chaos, Koth was separated from the man, but as he ran, a few moments later he heard a panicked scream and saw through the crack in a wall the man falling before a droid. He felt a shutter run through him as he shifted the rifle in his arms. These things were going to chase him anyway, perhaps his best bet was to make a stand and hope he could pick them off. If the naval officer had been here, perhaps there were others nearby.

He took out one, and then another but saw additional droids still trying to pin him in. As he kept firing his rifle, he heard the sound of boots on plastcrete behind him, then the sound of a blaster pistol. Several shots rang out and a droid that Koth hadn’t seen in his blind spot fell.

Within another few moments the droids were down, and Koth saw the familiar form of Theron Shan come into view, and he wasn’t alone.

Corso Riggs shouldered his rifle as he considered the droids littered about the small square. “This place just keeps getting weirded,” he muttered to Koth. “Even for places the Captain took me.”

Koth’s brows creased. “The Captain?”

Corso grinned. “Corvys. I’ve called her Captain since the day we met. It became a bit more than just a title after awhile.”

“Right,” Koth nodded. He heaved a sigh and glanced between Theron and Corso. “What about the Commander, the others? What about Lana?”

“Torian’s with the Commander right now,” Theron explained. “He found her first and I managed to hail them. I found Corso first, then we found Lana, Aric, and Vette. We found a temple…or something that Vette seems to have managed to make as safe as anything else. Coming?”

Koth could only shrug and follow the ex-SIS agent. He felt safer now than he had earlier.

“Any sign of Vaylin and Scorpio?” Koth asked as he followed the other two back to the temporary safe haven.

Corso was the one who answered as Theron kept an eye out around them, occasionally pressing his hand to the implant over his eye as if scanning radio frequencies. “Not Vaylin or that over-confident block of metal,” the pilot replied. “But we have run into one or two of her soldiers…they seemed anxious to avoid everything, actually.”

Koth thought back to the naval officer. “Yeah, I ran into one…he wanted to surrender, said everyone’s terrified of Vaylin.”

“From what Corvys told me, Vaylin’s absolutely nuts,” Corso said with a thoughtful frown. “So it would match that.”

“Here we are,” Theron told them, reaching a large structure that seemed more intact than a lot of the buildings on this planet. As they entered, Koth saw a lot of odd carvings and statutes. No wonder Theron had called it a temple. 

“So we’re safe here?” Koth asked .

“Safer than out there,” Theron amended. “I-“

“Koth!” Lana’s voice interrupted the ex-spy, and Koth monetarily forgot the other two men as he swept the distance between himself and the Sith and pulled her into a tight embrace. She seemed surprised by the overly public display a moment, but she let him kiss her and didn’t pull away…instead she deepened the kiss.

Koth felt relief flood him as he finally pulled back. He was watching Lana but he spoke to Theron and Corso. “So the Commander’s on her way?”

“Should be here soon,” Corso answered. “Sooner the better. I let that woman out of my sight and she always manages to get into trouble…wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Lana paused and looked a the brown eyed pilot, her golden gaze curious. “You are truly in love with her, aren’t it?” she asked.

Corso shrugged. “The Captain? Of course I am. She had me from day one, really.” He smiled a little. “Its been over five years, but she and I are figuring it out…as long as she’s in the Alliance, I’m in. Not letting her slip through my fingers again.”

Koth glanced at Lana’s blond head and, despite the danger and uncertainty, smiled. “I know exactly what you mean, Corso.”


	10. Reprieve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team makes it off Iokath, but Corvys has another issue she must deal with.
> 
> Author's note: Various other members of the Duskier legacy exist mainly in the background of this story, each with their own purpose and reason as to why they are there. Reasons for their less prominent involvement will be explained in the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SWTOR is owned by Bioware, EA, and LucasArts.

They had escaped Aries and Iokath, and Corvys frankly wanted nothing to do with that void forsaken planet ever again. She staggered on board the Gravestone and dropped into an empty chair in one of the rooms scattered on the main deck. She’d always been struck by the sheer massiveness of the ship compared to her old ship and the number of people on the crew. Times like this she missed the quiet thrum of her ship as they coursed through hyperspace.

Corso was there within moments, gently shifting her vest off and checking her shoulder for the strain he knew was there. Of all those here, Corso could read her the best, and even when she managed to conceal injuries from others, it was about impossible to conceal them from him. 

“Not too serious, but you’ll need a few days rest, Captain,” Corso pronounced after a few moments. “It’s been an insane day.”

“Understatement,” Corvys muttered as she glanced up at her husband, but she smiled at him as she said it. “Retake the Gravestone from a murderous Empress and a crazy droid, get dropped on a weird planet run by a droid that wants to kill us, get the Gravestone back…I’m ready to go home.”

“Not to mention evidently giving a crazy droid control of that place,” Koth’s voice broke in. Corvys glanced over to find him glaring at her, arms crossed over his chest. “Are you insane? After everything Scorpio did to us?”

“And if I’d killed her it probably would have proven a fluke and she’d already imbedded herself somewhere in Iokath’s system, just like she did with the Eternal throne. At least now she isn’t anywhere near the Eternal Throne, so that removes at least one less obstacle before we try and take the Throne,” Corvys replied acidly. She’d not been fond of Scorpio after the first betrayal, but she’d sort of been expecting it. Scorpio had been obvious about the fact that she was only in the partnership to benefit herself. “At least this way she’s less likely to act hostile towards us in the future because we benefited her.”

“Makes sense, in a twisted way,” Corso mused. “Honestly, Vortena, the Captain’s made worse deals and come out on top, she’s lucky that way.”

“Still think you’re crazy,” Koth muttered. 

“You can think I’m crazy all you want, I’m not continuing this argument,” Corvys snapped.

“You made a decision that affects us all and let a crazy droid take over a planet and you don’t want t-“ Koth’s words broke off abruptly when a nearby cup nearly collided with his head, and would have had he not dodged to the side. 

Corvys was still glaring at him, both hands gripping the edge of her chair. Koth’s mouth dropped open when he realized she hadn’t physically throne the tumbler at his head. . . and that several other smaller objects around the smuggler were hovering in the air.

“Er…Corvys, it’s happening again,” Koth said slowly.

That snapped Corvys out of her anger and she blinked, several tools and another cup clattering to the ground as she stared at them. “Oh Kriff..”  
Corso was staring at his wife too. “Corvys…what? How? You never had enough connection to the Force to do that before.”

Corvys groaned and buried her head in her hands. “I can’t help it, Corso. It all started after..”

“I’m going to the bridge,” Koth said awkwardly, and took the chance to slip out of the room before Corso or Corvys could answer. The wild eyed look he gave them as he left was enough for neither of them to wish to pursue him.

“Corvys?” Corso asked gently as he sat down beside her. He wrapped an arm around her waist and let her lean into him.

“Remember how I told you I ‘talked’ with the Emperor and then ran into Master Satele Shan and Darth Marr?” Corvys replied quietly.

“You said the Emperor did something to you before he left you alone for awhile,” Corso nodded.

“I think it started before then, really.” Corvys grimanced. “When they unfroze me, I thought I was imagining it at first, but then I realized I was actually sensing the Force. I couldn’t do anything with it, not until after my ‘talk’ with Valkorian, but it was there.” She paused and looked up at him, red eyes pained. “That blaster I made? I levitated the parts together. After that Master Shan said I wouldn’t be able to actually use the Force, but evidently she might have been wrong…” Corvys paused. “Well, I can’t use it consciously. But things happen when I get particularly worked up.”

“Like things floating around you and objects hurtling through the air at those you’re angry with?” Corso asked. His eyes looked almost as wild as Koth’s had a few minutes ago.

“Something like that, yes.” Corso shrugged. “There’s someone in the Force enclave who has been trying to figure out exactly what Valkorian did to me, but it hasn’t been that big a priority.”

“Maybe it should be,” Corso suggested. He pulled her tightly against him as he felt her trembling. “But we’ll work through it, whatever it is.”

She couldn’t find a reply, but she leaned into him, taking comfort in his nearness.

~~~  
Their return from Iokath and the resulting war meetings took hours, and it was nearly dinner time when Corvys found her steps carrying her towards the Force Enclave. She’d been willing to put it off for another day, but Corso had firmly pushed her towards the hall to the Enclave and told her he’d find dinner for the two of them later.

She passed a motely crew of Jedi, Sith, and Voss, mediating on one side of the enclave and sparring on the other. A few paused and watched her curiously as she passed, but none of them intercepted her. She paused when she reached one particular Sith who knelt, meditating on a red cushion. She crossed her arms and waiting. After a minute or so, the Chiss woman open opened her red eyes and rose from the cushion, meeting Corvys’s gaze.

An observer would note that the features of the two Chiss women were almost identical, save for placement of scars and their hair. Where Corvys had bright fuchsia hair and wore it in a bun, the Sith’s hair was inky blue-black and tumbled down her shoulders in lose curls.

The Chiss Sith turned and started walking to a more private room to the side of the main chamber, and Corvys followed without prompting. Neither spoke until they were alone.

“You’re here about another incident?” the Sith asked in a cool tone, though Corvys took no offense. This Sith woman used the same tone with everyone, even her. “Why not see one of the Voss about it?”

“Because I don’t trust the Voss like I do you,” Corvys replied. “You understand my peculiar circumstances a bit better than they do, Mythol.”

Sae’Mythol’s mouth formed a thin line at mention of peculiar circumstances as she regarded her sister.

Before Corvys had landed on Odessan months ago, the two hadn’t seen each other in almost twenty years. During their adolescence, Corvys had escaped their parents overwhelming expectations and political machinations by stowing away on a bounty hunter’s ship. Mythol’s own escape from their parents had come in the form of Korriban. Where, before Valkorian, Corvys had been force blind, Mythol was anything but.

Mythol had been on Darth Marr’s ship, a fact that Corvys had been unaware of until recently. She’d later been captured by Knights of Zakuul and frozen in another part of the Spire as a prisoner, albeit a less exotic and prized one than Corvys. Since Mythol had been unfrozen and brought to Odessan, she’d absorbed herself completely in helping the Force Enclave, meanwhile avoiding anything remotely political.

Even after all these months, the sisters weren’t entirely sure how to act around each other, and both would admit that their relationship was more of a professional nature than anything else.

“Can you help me get it under control?” Corvys asked.

Mythol shrugged. “I can try, but I cannot promise anything. What Valkorian did to you is a bit unprecedented. We may need to involve one of the Voss healers.” She held up a hand. “Not to get inside your head, Corvys, but to just examine you. I do not think we can just turn this ability off. Once you’ve awoken to the Force it is difficult to close yourself off again. I think at best you can be taught how to control your emotions to a point where you don’t accidently do something, or at least control some of your unconscious impulses.”

Corvys gave her sister a dubious look but nodded. “Alright. When do we start?”

“Meet me back here tomorrow morning,” Mythol instructed. “You should get a few days off between your next assault, and that will give us time to get started, but trying to start such lessons hungry is not necessarily a good idea.”

“Tomorrow then?” Corvys asked.

“Tomorrow.”


	11. Unexpected Allies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corvys deals with Arcann's surrender, and encounters another surprise ally in the midst of Chaos. Why can't life ever be simple?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SWTOR belongs to EA and Bioware

Vaylin had escaped, again. The mission on Zakuul hadn’t been a complete failure, however. With the assistance of Indo Zal, they’d freed a number of Zakuulan rebels and they’d exposed Vaylin’s cruelty, and the fact that there were those who opposed her, to the entire planet. Vaylin’s perchance for wanting attention had come back to bite her.

More shocking, though, was the man now standing in front of Corvys, offering a surrender and an alliance she hadn’t expected when she’d let Senya escape with Arcann from Voss. Corvys regarded him with some wariness, weighing the decision in her mind and could see Corso standing, posture rigid and blaster rifle aimed at Arcann, from the corner of her eye.

 

He’d saved them from some of Vaylin’s forces, surprising everyone. If he’d wanted them dead… “I didn’t let your mother leave with you just to kill you here,” Corvys heard herself saying aloud. “And as crazy as it sounds, I believe you right now. But I don’t know that I trust you. That you’ll have to earn.”

Arcann nodded as if he’d expected this, some relief crossing his scarred features for a moment. “All I can do is seek redemption for everything my family has done.” 

“There’s a lot to undo,” Corvys acknowledged in a neutral tone. She sighed internally as she glanced at the mess around them and the damage to the city. “Lana, Corso, keep an eye on Arcann. Theron, we need to meet up with Indo and then get our forces back to Odessan.”

Theron nodded, a frown forming on his brow. “I’d hoped my other contact would be here, but he may be with Indo. We’ll want to take him back to Odessan. His cover in Vaylin’s guard will be blown after all of this.”

Lana and Corvys exchanged a glance. “You had someone in Vaylin’s guard?” Corvys asked.

Theron nodded, looking into the distance. “He’s been in deep cover for years, and he could survive this chaos, but I think he can better suit us on Odessan.” 

“Then go and fine him,” Lana replied. “We will meet you at the shuttle.”

Corvys spared a last look at Arcann as Lana and Corso flanked him, the followed Theron quickly along the avenue. Theron brought Indo up on his holo as they moved, agreeing on a meeting point and Indo’s promise that he and the other rebels they had rescued were safe. With all of the chaos, Corvys was somewhat surprised that they managed to reach the rendezvous point without any more fighting. 

She saw Indo standing with two others, deep in conversation. One was a rebel they’d rescued from Vaylin’s palace, Unessa if Corvys recalled the slight woman’s name. The other was a massive male who wore the armor of a Knight, but he’d removed his helm, and she could see he was a Chiss with pale blue hair. Corvys frowned as they approached and Theron hailed the man. 

“Glad to see you made it, Nine,” Theron said. “Have anything interesting for us?”

“A few –“ the man shook his head, and his accent suddenly changed from Zakuulan to thick Imperial. “I managed to download some information regarding planned offensives that the Knights would be taking part in. It might allow us to warn some of the targets. Depends on what you want to do with the information.”

Well, the Imperial accent coming from a Chiss wasn’t that surprising, but when the man turned fully to face them, Corvys froze, red eyes going wide and jaw working open and close for several moments before she found her voice.

“DASH?!”

He gave her an amused look, one bearing more emotion than any look her sister Mythol ever gave her. “Hello Corvys. I see you’ve managed to make quite an impression on the galaxy.”

Corvys approached slowly, still staring at the oldest of the Duskier siblings. “How…what? Mythol said she lost contact with you after you joined Imperial Intelligence.” 

“Ah, yes,” Dash Duskier shrugged. “I became a Cipher agent. That doesn’t exactly lend itself to staying in contact with your family, not that I would wish to remain in contact with our parents anyway. I did keep some tabs on you two though. Mythol became a Sith, and you vanished into Republic space, only to re-emerge years later.” He shrugged. “We all survived in our own ways, Corvys. That should not surprise you.”

“How did you end up here?” Corvys asked, her voice growing soft.

Dash glanced at Indo and shrugged again. “I’ll tell you on the journey back to Odessan.”

Corvys narrowed her gaze. “And I can trust you?” she asked skeptically. 

Dash laughed softly. “Good to know that you don’t trust blindly,” he replied. “But Shan here can vouch for me. I’ve been working under cover in Zakuul since not long after the ‘Outlander’ killed Valkorian.” He gave her a pointed look. 

Corvys found herself for the second time that day weighing a possible alliance with a brother she really didn’t know. Like Mythol, she previously hadn’t seen her brother in 20 years and had no idea what he’d experienced or done during that time. She shot Theron a look.

“You can trust him,” Theron promised. “And that’s my professional opinion.”

“Well, I’ll let you come along anyway,” Corvys replied. “Whether or not I trust you will have to wait. Mythol’s earned it, but you haven’t yet.”

Dash didn’t seem particularly disturbed that that pronouncement. “Then let’s go. It’s been years since I’ve been able to wander without this blasted armor.”

“And on the way there, you can tell me just how you ended up in the Knights,” Corvys crossed her arms and eyed him.

“If you want,” Dash replied.

It took another several minutes to conclude their business with Indo and arrange for secure communications between themselves and the rebels before Theron lead the way back towards the shuttle, anxious now to get the rest of them out of there before any of Vaylin’s loyal guard caused them more trouble.

Corvys could feel another headache brewing as they boarded the shuttle, and saw Corso watching her with some concern. She felt a small surge and then realized it was her connection to the Force and clamped down hard. Arcann was now an apparent ally, Dash had reappeared after years in the dark, and Vaylin was on the loose. Could this day get any more complicated?

She felt Corso shift to stand behind her and let herself lean her head back on his chest, taking small comfort in his touch. Her life had been anything but simple since being unfrozen, and it didn’t look as if it was going to get any easier any time soon.


	12. First Half of a Family Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corvys has her first conversation with her older brother in 20 years, and Dash gets an unpleasant surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SWTOR belongs to EA and Bioware

“I think you’re crazy, Corvys, but I’ll trust your judgement,” Corso murmured to his wife as they left Zakuul behind and began the trip back to Odessan. He watched Arcann with some suspicion from the corner of his eye.

“I know it’s crazy,” Corvys replied with a snort. “But so is most of what I do, Corso. Valkorian doesn’t trust him, but then, I don’t trust Valkorian. And you know what they say about the enemy of my enemy.”

“Is that piece of ronto dung around right now?” Corso asked, concern flashing over his features for a moment, before he replaced it with his usual easy smile.

“Not at the moment,” Corvys replied, her shoulders relaxing for a moment. “He can’t figure out all my thoughts, I manage to keep a portion of myself from him.”

Corso met her gaze for a long moment before he nodded, leaning forward to press his lips against her forehead. “I know I can’t keep you from taking risks, sweetheart, but there were a few minutes I was nervous this time around.”

“It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” she warned him. She let Corso pull her further into his embrace as they felt the ship jolt into hyperspace.

“You know I’ll follow you into the void and back,” Corso replied, his arms tightening around her. “I threw my lot in with you a long time again, Captain.” He leaned down to kiss her and Corvys let him, smiling against his lips. For all the stress she was under, things felt infinitely better with Corso at her side again. They’d made a good team from the start.

“Am I interrupting anything?” a thick Imperial accent interrupted.

Corvys resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she and Corso broke the kiss, and turned her red eyes to meet the red eyes of her older brother. “Yes, you are, but I doubt you care.”

Dash’iel Duskier shrugged lightly as he regarded his sister and her husband. Dash fairly loomed over them, but Corso kept his usual cocky stance as he regarded the tall Chiss. “Who’s this, Corvys?” Corso asked with mild interest.

“Corso Riggs, meet Sae’Dash’iel Duskier,” Corvys said, eying her brother as she did. “The older brother I haven’t seen since I felt Imperial space.”

“Wasn’t he an Imperial agent?” Corso’s brows shot up as he sized his wife’s older brother up.

“I was,” Dash replied amiably. “Before the Dark Council got their hands on Imperial Intelligence, brain washed me, and turned it all upside down. I’ve been a free agent for years, though admittedly I worked a fair amount with the Empire.”

“Technically Cipher Nine is dead, according to Imperial records,” Theron appeared at Dash’s side. “And has been since after Corellia.”

Corvys crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Theron, and felt Corso standing behind her, one arm wrapping around her waist. “You didn’t think to tell me my older brother was on Zakuul, Theron? At least Lana warned me about Mythol.”

“Former Emperor’s Wrath, if I recall?” Dash said in an amused tone. Corvys wondered if her brother had any moods beyond serious or amused.

“One in the same,” Corvys replied, though she was still glaring at Theron. “Mythol’s still as dangerous as ever, but something changed, after the Emperor’s fall..she’s been quiet, Dash. Just looking to survive more than anything else.”

She saw actual concern flicker over her brother’s expression. Of the three of them, Mythol had always been the most driven, the most intent on making a name and a place for herself. It was why she’d done so well among the Sith.

“I couldn’t really tell you he was alive and under deep cover, imbedded among the Knights,” Theron replied calmly to Corvys’s inquiry. 

“Wait, what?” Corvys’s gaze shot to her brother. “You were among the Knights of Zakuul, but you’re not a-“

“Force user?” Dash finished for her. “Funny thing, that. Imperial Intelligence feeds their agents a fairly standard cocktail of mind altering and mind conditioning substances. It does things, can awaken some abilities and suppress others. It took years to get them totally after my system. I’m not Sith, I’m nothing like Mythol, but I’ve had enough training in lying that between some faint abilities and lying, I was able to fake my way through.”

“Did you know about Arcann?” Corvys asked intently.

“I knew he’d put out feelers for Knights not loyal to Vaylin.” Dash shrugged. “It gave us an opportunity. I don’t necessarily trust him, but he did help you out of a bad spot.”

“Force this day keeps getting weirder,” Corvys muttered.

“I’m not the one with a dead Sith Emperor in my head,” Dash shot back.

“Any more reunions we should prepare for?” Corvys asked Theron, just shy of glaring this time.

Theron held his hands up. “Come on, Corvys, you know I wouldn’t lie to you unless I had to. Should just be Mythol and Dash, although,” he frowned, as if he’d suddenly thought of something, and glanced up at Dash. “Well Kriff.”

“What?” Dash asked, his red eyes narrowing.

“Kaliyo’s on base.” Theron winced just slightly.

Dash let lose a series of expletives in Cheunh that actually made Corvys blanch. 

“What’s your issue with Kaliyo?” she asked cautiously.

“Aside from the fact that she’s a backstabbing anarchist?” Dash asked between clenched teeth. “She’s my wife.”

“Well Kriff.” Corvys frown. “How in Force did you end up married to her?”

“She was my partner though a good portion of my career with Intelligence and after,” Dash replied. “She cut and run after Valkorian was killed, just before I started infiltrating Zakuul.” He swore again and ran his fingers through his thick blue hair. “Of all the rotten luck.”

“I take it that it didn’t end well?” Corso asked, raising his eyebrows.

“More than once I caught her selling Imperial secrets,” Dash heaved a sigh. “Kaliyo was…exciting, and everything that the Ascendancy and Intelligence said I shouldn’t get involved with. Near the end she got bored, she fooled around, again. It is in her nature and it really didn’t come as a surprise, I just thought we’d gotten past that point.”

“Do you still love her?” Corvys asked bluntly.

“I cared about her,” Dash replied. “After so many years though? I don’t know that it’s a relationship I’m really interested in continuing or not.”

“Well she hasn’t changed, from what I can see,” Corvys replied. “And you haven’t exactly been celibate over the past five years, have you?” 

Dash met her gaze steadily, though he clenched his jaw and shot a glance at Theron.

Theron flushed.

“Thought so.” Corvys shook her head. “Well, I’m not going to tell you have to deal with your love life, big brother, but I suggest you make a decision fast.”

“Thinking about it,” Dash replied, casting another glance at Theron.

The former SIS agent eyed them all, and walked away muttering under his breath.


	13. 2nd Half of a Family Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corvys and team return to Odessan and the Duskier siblings reunite for the first time in years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SWTOR belongs to Bioware, I'm just playing with their toys.

Corvys found herself glancing towards her older brother several times on the ride back to Odessan. His previously relaxed stance (or at least relaxed for him Theron told her), was gone, and she could actually feel the tension bleeding off him. Most others on the ship didn't seem aware of it, and Corvys could only guess that she read him this well because they were related.

Corvys had holoed ahead to Mythol to warn her that Dash was returning to Odessan with her, and where their brother had been all of these years. Mythol had responded by asking if Corvys was sure they could trust him. She could sense the coldness from her sister even over the holocall.

Just what she didn't need, the Alliance Commander thought to herself. She rubbed her forehead and saw a flicker of concern in Corso's expression from where he sat beside her. She jerked her chin towards her brother, and Corso's eyes darkened a second before he slid an arm around Corvys's waist.

Her husband certainly wasn't afraid of physical displays of affection, she thought.

"Don't try and referee him and Mythol," Corso told her. "Just keep them from killing each other."

"Or keep Kaliyo from trying to kill him," Corvys muttered.

"Let him sort that out," Corso advised. "I'm none to fond of Kaliyo, and it doesn't appear your brother is now either. He's spent years undercover right under Arcann and Vaylin's noses. Something tells me he can take care of himself."

Corvys measured his words for a moment and sighed in agreement. She still wasn't sure what to think of this whole family reunion. She and her siblings had been close as children, but their various methods of escaping their parents expectations had driven a deep wedge between them, and forged them all into weapons of one type or another. She wondered what would have happened if they'd all managed to escape to Republic space.

But you couldn't change the past, you could only attempt to change the future.

There was also the added stress of the man sitting with his hands folded in his lap, watching them all with slightly wary eyes beneath a network of scars. The addition of Arcann to the Alliance was going to cause ripples, and probably not pleasant ones. Interestingly, Dash didn't seem to bear any particular animosity towards the man, but her brother had been playing under a very different set of rules than she had over the past several months, and years.

Even now, though, she could sense a certain weariness about Arcann. They could not excuse what he'd done, they could only give him the opportunity to try and make up for it.

If that was even possible. Still, they say to keep your friends close, and your enemies closer, Corvys thought.

Valkorian was currently silent in her head. Perhaps, she reflected, Arcann could give her a insight to the man she didn't possess. It was worth discussion.

"We'll at least keep them from shooting you," Corvys told Arcann as the ship entered atmo. She could feel the fine tension in him, vibrating like an instrument string.

Arcann managed the faintest of smiles. "I would appreciate that, Commander."

Corvys met his gaze. "For your safety and our own, I'm assigning a force user to keep an eye on you. She's a Sith so try not to antagonize her."

Arcann nodded, his movements carefully measured. "I'll try not to." His gazed looked genuinely curious. "Not a Jedi?"

Corvys snorted. "All of my experience with Jedi as been business. I have a more personal experience with this Sith. I trust her implicitly."

Dash glanced up from where he was speaking to Theron and he lifted a brow. "Mythol." He made it a statement.

"Other than Lana, who else would I trust that much?" Corvys replied to her brother.

Arcann's golden eyes flickered between the two Chiss questioningly. 

Dash gave Arcann an almost predatory smile."Mythol Duskier. Former Emperor's Wrath. She has perhaps as much reason or more to hate your father as you do."

"I see," Arcann's tone was carefully neutral.

Corvys chuckled darkly. "Oh you will."

As the shuttle landed and the shuttlebay opened, Lana stepped out first, followed by Corvys and Corso, then Theron and Dash. Arcann hung back a moment, watching events unfold as a Chiss woman with very similar features to Corvys's and inky black hair stepped up and clasped arms with Corvys. Then the Chiss woman, Mythol Arcann guessed, turned an icy gaze to Dash Duskier.

The brother and sister stared at each other with unreadable expressions for several tense moments, and Arcann saw Corvys refraining from resting a hand on her blaster pistol.

Then Mythol surprised everyone and pulled her tall brother into a fierce embrace. Dash enclosed his arms around his younger sister, and after a moment, Corvys found herself pulled into the embrace. When the three siblings pulled back, they were looking at each other carefully, all very carefully not showing any sign of crying.

"Do not ever do that to us again, Dash," Mythol said in a tight voice as she looked up at her brother. "Do not let us think you are dead."

Arcann saw a fine shutter run through the big Chiss.

"No more secrets, between us at least," Dash said at last.

Arcann finally stepped off the ship, and immediately saw force users going for lightsabers and blasters pointed at us.

"He's with us," Corvys's voice cut through the tension like a knife. "Attack him unprovoked and you'll deal with me personally." There was durasteel in that tone, and Arcann swore to himself he certainly wasn't going to go looking for trouble.

Corvys pulled back from her brother and sister and gestured Arcann forward. "Arcann, this is Mythol Duskier. Mythol, Arcann, former Emperor, now ally."

"War makes strange brothers and sisters in arms," Mythol said without a trace of sarcasm. She looked as if she was sizing Arcann up for a body bag and then chuckled darkly. "Very well, Arcann. I shall be your...companion while you're on Odessan."

Arcann resisted the urge to snort at her choice of words. "I can't change what I did, I can only try and make it right."

"We'll give you the chance to prove yourself, but we will watch you," Corvys told him.

"It's more than most would give," Arcann replied.

"Mythol, will you take him to the medbay?" Corvys said, changing the subject.

Mythol nodded sharply. "If you'll come with me, Arcann. Your mother is still unconscious."

All or Arcann's previous thoughts vanished with honest concern for Senya, and he followed the Sith woman from the landing pad.

As the two force users vanished, Corvys sighed and turned her attention to Dash. "Brace yourself, brother, Kaliyo will be in the cantina." She started away from the landing pad with Corso at her side.

Exchanging a tight glance with Theron and Lana, Dash followed his youngest sister away from the shuttle.


End file.
